nuclear power

Despite the promise of bountiful, cheap, and clean energy, nuclear energy didn’t completely overtake fossil fuels like everyone expected in the middle of the twentieth century. Among other things, fear of radiation leaks and waste products that have to be buried for hundreds of years turned the United States away from adopting it for more than a fraction of our energy usage. Read More

Get ready for a nuclear-powered spacecraft—maybe! The Russian Federal Space Agency says that it will hold talks with Nasa and a number of countries on April 15 to see if they can’t get started on creating a “nuclear engine” by 2012. Such an engine, it’s believed, would only cost around $600m to develop. Read More

The news from Japan is both awful and appalling. Awful: 23,000 confirmed dead or missing, and counting. Appalling: pretty much anything to do with the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant. Nuclear meltdown like Chernobyl! Deadly contaminated milk and radioactive tap water! Tokyo a postapocalyptic ghost town! A plume of radiation that threatens America’s West Coast!
Where do they get these morons? Read More

It certainly looks that way. The country has been having a national discussion ever since the Japan nuclear crisis, and the consensus seems to be that nuclear isn’t worth the risk. Instead, the country will embrace alternative forms of energy, including renewable sources. Read More

A massive earthquake that struck off Japan’s northeastern coast on Friday— taking 1,200 lives, with thousands still unaccounted for and ten thousand feared dead by police — also damaged multiple nuclear power plants there.
On Sunday, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said a partial meltdown at the Fukushiman Dai-ichi nuclear complex, was likely under way. Read More

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In the 1960s most of America assumed that by 2008 we’d be driving nuclear-powered cars around. Even in Back to the Future the Delorian was powered by Mr. Fusion. But alas, anyone can tell you that we’re still chained to oil-powered internal combustion engines, just as we have been for 100 years.
But a new material scienticians… Read More

A group of researches at MIT have developed a new nuclear power technique that can increase energy output while reducing operating temperature. Rather than using the cylindrical uranium rods commonly used today, the new method utilizes hollow rods. This technique increases the surface area exposed to water and cuts operating temperatures back from 1800C to 700C.
This development could make… Read More